FANS TO BE PUNISHED FOR BEHAVIOUR IN AUSTRALIA-GREECE FRIENDLY

The international friendly played between the Socceroos and Greece was marred with flares from the fans at the Etihad Stadium.

The friendly ended with each team winning each leg in a two-leg game. A number of fans attended the game and lift flares in Melbourne’s Central Business District before the game and another was set off within the stadium.

Victoria Sport minister John Eren said he was very disappointed with the actions of the fans. He said:

“This is really disappointing to see that a handful of people could ruin it for the rest of the community who just want to go there and enjoy themselves at a wonderful game. Flares are always dangerous when used in an inappropriate way as they were last night.”

The minister tasked the police to bring the said fans to justice. The spokesman of the Football Federation of Australia (FFA) Kyle Patterson made it clear that the fans when caught will face lengthy bans from all football events in Australia.

A total of 33,622 fans watched the second leg of the tie at the Etihad where Australia lost 2-1 to Greece. The FFA later agreed to impose a five year ban on all those who ignited flares as some of the fans threw lighted flares into the path of an oncoming bus.

The police had warned the fans ahead of the games from using the flares. They said they would move around and crack anyone caught with flares at the return leg of the series but couldn’t contain the wild fans. No arrests were reported on the night in a game which was the first time in 10 years that Melbourne played host to the Greek national team. Melbourne is known as the city that hosts the largest Greek population in the world outside of Greece.